After my super proud post of 46 days of consecutive yoga I am now feeling like a gigantic fraud.
I have been ill, had to take time off work and haven’t done yoga for 4 days!
In my defence I haven’t been able to breathe through my nose much either but it is still very frustrating.
I’m hoping I can get back into the rhythm of it when I’m feeling better after such a promising start.
In fact, not doing any form of exercise for well over a week now is having a severe effect on my mental health and it really brings to light how much I rely on it to make me feel good.
Hopefully this weekend I can get myself back to full health and feeling ready to take on the world again.
How do significant life events or the passage of time influence your perspective on life?
Despite only being in my 30s I can reflect and recognise that with each new decade one’s priorities do shift. What was important to me at 15, is different at 25, is different at 35 and I’m sure will be different in the subsequent years.
As we age our perspective on life is constantly shifting, but is that due to time or is it due to having more experience and thus more opportunity for significant life events?
Would I feel this lack of ambition for my career, lack of desire to have a family or even a social life if my mum hadn’t died? I think not. Her death made me recognise that my career wasn’t that important to me, I could never approach motherhood without her support and some of my friends weren’t there for me in the way I thought they’d be.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not unhappy. The life i have carved out for myself is good, but perhaps not what 15 year old me imagined.
I have bought the books and tried to learn more about the spiritual practice, not just the physical asanas but to be honest I am not a spiritual person so I am finding that bit tricky.
But, I am very much enjoying the physical aspect of creating a habit. I have scoured the internet for people starting out in yoga being lumpy and uncoordinated only to find after a few years of doing yoga they are svelte, graceful and swanlike. Despite the multitude of yoga progress videos out there I am yet to find any where they started like me! So, I am to be the first.
Downward Dog – knees bent, heels off the floor
I have bought myself a 90s camcorder, hence the grainy footage. I hate using my phone for all these kinds of things so that is why the camcorder – plus I wanted to video myself to see if any of the poses actually look what they are supposed to, spoiler alert – they don’t.
Here’s a couple of screenshots of the videos to whet your appetite. Whilst I am on day 45 of a consecutive yoga practice, this is a lifelong journey so these are still very much ‘before’ shots.
Every year it was tradition, on my birthday I’d have my mum’s chicken pie. With the exception of one year when I experimented with being a vegetarian I requested mum’s chicken pie.
She passed away 4 years ago so now I make it myself, not on my birthday necessarily but whenever I want to feel close to her.
I read somewhere that making resolutions for January is in contrast with nature and what our body wants. Our body wants to stay in hibernation, protect itself from the cold and the wet and generally curl up in a ball until Spring. Unfortunately, that is not what the modern world dictates so we must push on.
A great thing about February is daylight…daylight is coming back. Those who work full time in the UK will understand what I mean. The long dark nights are depressing and SAD is a thing. My birthday is on the summer solstice and I genuinely believe it affects me more than most. Bring on those early morning sunrises please.
Despite a horrible cold the dog must be walked and so I set off, big coat, woolly hat and waterproof boots to get outside. The ground was wet, the air was wet and me and the dog got wet.
The mud was giving mud
I am glad I went though, they say laughter is the best medicine but exercise in the fresh air is a close second. Particularly when getting back to nature with the dog is involved.
I did have a lovely video which showed the sounds of the birds and the trickling of water in the stream but alas, I don’t have premium so I can’t post it.
But honestly, getting out in nature has made me feel a million times better and I recommend it for anyone who is not feeling well.
Somewhat excitingly, I also stumbled upon a group of women getting ready to wild swim, I got their details and am going to check it out, so watch this space!
For you to understand this you need a bit of background.
I grew up in a flat/apartment within a hotel. When my parents decided to expand the hotel my brothers and my bedroom got turned into a place to keep the water tanks so we slept in the living room which also served as the office for the hotel.
Hence, the computer. It was there in my bedroom (aka the office, the living room, my brother’s bedroom) so surely it counts as mine?
It sat there, glaring it’s blue screen whilst I was trying to sleep and my dad was trying to figure out the accounts. It was there whilst my brother captained a flight to Australia and back (flight simulator) and when I wanted to play the 10 level game of The Lion King over 10 different floppy disks (I’m a 90s kid).
possibly one of the things I’m most scared of is being bad at stuff. Like fiction writing for example, everyone wants to write a book but how many people actually do it? Even if it is rubbish and never sees the light of day. So the people that have novels stuffed into the back corner of their wardrobes i salute you, that is a terrifying thing.
but also eyes, eyes are freaky and I don’t like them.
also being a cliche, like this answer. Gosh think of something original eh?
It’s the 31st January, so I don’t think this blog would be classified as a new year’s resolution as I am already a month into 2026.
Pining for the plums in summer
Which is good, new year’s resolutions never last and hopefully I can make this last.
I might say some random stuff, I might do some random stuff and I might swear. So sorry about that but I feel like creating this as a semi sort of diary. To hold myself accountable for this year and be the best version of myself I can be.
No comparing myself with anyone else apart from past me. And past me is fairly not too bad but there is room for improvement.
So here goes nothing, let’s fill that room.
And it has already started! I am sitting here on the 45th day of doing yoga consecutively. Which i am very proud of.
So in 2026 the random stuff i will be doing:
Yoga , hopefully learning arm balances and headstands but let’s see
Running and swimming more
Reading less trash, yes booktok and kindle unlimited I’m talking to you
Hiking with the dog
Pottery that i want to make, tiles for my bathroom and kitchen?
Knitting maybe
Less doom scrolling
This list may feel unrealistic but it’s not. I actually do a lot of these things already so it’s more of a keep going list then a start from fresh list. A
As proof, here’s a picture of the sky on the dog walk today, cold and sunny, my favourite.
Sarah Hargreaves 